Electric car with A.I. to undertake 745 mile Australian ‘road trip’

An electric vehicle with artificial intelligence (AI) sensors and computers is set to embark on a 1,200 kilometer (745 mile), three-month journey in Queensland, Australia.

The zero-emissions Renault ZOE will be used to map roads in the state, which is in the northeast of the country. Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which is based in Brisbane, will man the car.

“As researchers drive the car across Queensland, onboard sensors will build a virtual map to help refine AI-equipped vehicles to drive safely on our roads,” Mark Bailey, Queensland’s minister for Transport and Main Roads, said in a statement Wednesday.

2018 – Renault ZOE

Bailey added that while it was “early days”, AI technology and smart road infrastructure had the potential to transform the way people travelled in Queensland and “reduce road trauma.”

The project will look at how the vehicle and its AI system adapts to lane markings, traffic lights and street signage. Additionally, it will look to overcome GPS systems’ limitations “in built-up areas and tunnels for vehicle positioning.”

Michael Milford, from QUT’s Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, said that as the vehicle was driven, AI would “watch and determine if it could perform the same as a human driver in all conditions.”